Beyond Send-and-Receive: How Embedded Finance Is Reshaping East African Fintech

For most of the last two decades, East African fintech has been focused on one challenge: moving money digitally without a bank branch involved.

Mobile money solved that problem. Across Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, and Rwanda, digital payments are now part of everyday life, while governments have digitised everything from tax collection to public services through platforms like Kenya's eCitizen and Rwanda's Irembo.

The more interesting question today is what gets built on top of that infrastructure.

That is where embedded finance comes in, and why it may be one of the most important shifts happening in East African fintech right now, even though it receives far less attention than the original mobile money boom.

The Shift From Payments to Embedded Services

Embedded finance refers to financial services such as payments, credit, and insurance being delivered inside a product whose primary purpose has nothing to do with finance.

The distinction matters.

A standalone banking or wallet app asks users to come specifically because they want to perform a financial transaction. Embedded finance works differently. It meets users where they already are, inside a ride-hailing app, a device retailer, a farm-input platform, or an e-commerce marketplace, and introduces financial services within an activity they were already carrying out.

The practical effect is that the financial product fades into the background.

You're not applying for credit. You're buying a phone and paying for it over time. You're not taking out insurance. You're signing up for a service that happens to include it.

East Africa's Clearest Example

If you want to see embedded finance working at scale in this region, M-KOPA is the case to study.

The Nairobi-based company finances smartphones, and increasingly electric motorbikes, through small daily or weekly repayments made via mobile money. Customers do not need collateral, a guarantor, or proof of income. The device itself serves as security: fall behind on payments and it locks remotely; catch up and it unlocks.

The scale is no longer a pilot-stage story.

M-KOPA today:

• Nearly 10 million customers served across Africa

• More than $2 billion in credit disbursed

• KES 207 billion unlocked for customers in Kenya

• 4.8 million Kenyan customers reached

• Nearly four in ten customers received their first formal loan through the platform

• More than two-thirds received their first insurance cover through bundled products

This model works particularly well in East Africa because two conditions already exist. Formal credit remains limited, while mobile money is deeply embedded in everyday financial behaviour.

The World Bank estimates that only about a quarter of adults in low-income countries use formal credit at all. At the same time, mobile money usage is frequent enough that repayments can happen quietly in the background of a person's existing financial habits.

M-KOPA's own explanation is straightforward: each repayment becomes a data point, and enough data points become a credit history, built without a bank statement.

Where Else It's Showing Up

M-KOPA may be the most visible example, but the pattern is spreading across multiple sectors.

E-commerce and ride-hailing

Platforms are embedding wallets and buy-now-pay-later products directly into checkout experiences, allowing customers to finance purchases without leaving the app to engage with a separate lender.

Mobility fintech

Vehicle financing is increasingly being integrated into ride-hailing and delivery platforms, helping drivers access cars and motorbikes through the same applications that generate their income.

Agritech

Agricultural platforms are beginning to bundle insurance and credit into farm-input and market-access services, rather than requiring farmers to seek out separate financial providers.

Open banking

Much of this growth depends on the infrastructure beneath it.

Kenyan institutions including Equity Bank, KCB, and Co-operative Bank have expanded their API offerings, making embedded financial products easier to integrate and scale.

Kenya's central bank published a draft open banking framework in March 2024, with full compliance expected by the end of 2026. The framework formalises a level of bank-to-fintech data sharing that had, in practice, already been taking shape for years as mobile money normalised digital financial interactions across the country.

Why Investors Are Paying Attention

"Many investors are now seeing SME digitisation as the next major fintech opportunity in East Africa," says Joe Kiragu, Sybrin's Regional Director for East Africa.

"If you want to evaluate how an economy is growing, look at the SME sector and the middle class."

His observation helps explain why embedded finance, rather than another standalone payments app, is attracting increasing attention across the region.

Mobile money largely solved consumer payments. The remaining opportunities sit around the edges of that success: working capital for small businesses, asset financing for informal workers, insurance for first-time policyholders, and other financial services that remain inaccessible to large parts of the population.

The Rise of Alternative Data

Another factor making embedded finance possible is the way creditworthiness is being assessed.

Alternative data, including transaction histories, utility payments, and repayment behaviour, is increasingly standing in for the credit bureau records that much of the region's population simply does not have.

This is more than a technical adjustment.

It is the mechanism that allows financial products to be embedded into phone retailers, ride-hailing platforms, and other non-financial services. The platform itself becomes the source of the data used to make lending decisions.

Without that shift, many embedded finance models would struggle to function at scale.

Where the Model Still Faces Limits

The growth of embedded finance is not without challenges.

Interoperability remains a significant constraint. A financing or insurance product embedded within one platform does not necessarily move with a customer who switches to a competing service. Even when unintended, this can create forms of soft lock-in that limit consumer flexibility.

Regulation is also still catching up.

Kenya's open banking framework illustrates this dynamic. The country has spent years operating with varying degrees of data sharing between banks, telcos, and fintechs. Only now is a formal regulatory framework being developed to govern practices that have already become common in the market.

As Kiragu puts it, the region's payments layer is mature, but "the next level is moving from access to quality and embedded services."

That observation captures the current state of East African fintech well. Access is no longer the primary challenge. The focus is increasingly shifting toward the quality, depth, and usefulness of the services built on top of existing payment infrastructure.

Beyond Payments

It makes sense that embedded finance receives less attention than mobile money did.

There is no equivalent of a single breakthrough product in the way M-Pesa transformed digital payments. Instead, the shift is happening across dozens of platforms that are not primarily financial companies at all.

Yet that may be precisely why it matters.

Mobile money answered the question of whether East Africans could move money digitally. Embedded finance is beginning to answer a different question: who gets access to credit, insurance, and working capital, and under what conditions?

Increasingly, those decisions are not being made inside a bank branch. They are being made inside the apps people already use to work, shop, travel, and run their businesses.

The next phase of fintech growth in East Africa may not be defined by new payment rails, but by the financial services quietly built on top of the ones that already exist.

How M-Pesa Became the Backbone of Kenya’s Digital Economy

A single interaction in Nairobi can tell you everything you need to know about how money moves in Kenya.

A matatu conductor doesn’t ask if you have cash. He doesn’t even slow down the transaction. He simply says “M-Pesa,” types a number into his phone, and moves on to the next passenger while you finish calculating your fare. That small exchange carries shows what happens when a mobile money system stops being an option and becomes the default way people transact.

Nineteen years after its launch, M-Pesa has gone far beyond its original purpose of helping unbanked Kenyans send money. It now sits underneath a large share of daily economic activity in the country, shaping how people pay, save, borrow, and even prove their creditworthiness.

For anyone building fintech products in Africa, it also raises a useful question: what does real scale actually look like when a financial product becomes part of everyday life?

From a Simple Transfer Tool to National Financial Infrastructure

When Safaricom launched M-Pesa in 2007, the goal was narrow. Many Kenyans did not have bank accounts, but mobile phone usage was already widespread. The idea was to let people send money through basic phones using airtime-like transfers.

At the time, fewer than 30% of Kenyan adults had access to formal banking services. That gap between mobile penetration and financial access became the opening M-Pesa was built on.

The adoption that followed was gradual at first, then compounding.

By 2024, financial inclusion in Kenya had risen to 84.8%. M-Pesa now serves over 40 million monthly active users in Kenya and more than 70 million customers across markets including Tanzania, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Mozambique, Lesotho, Ghana, and Egypt.

The scale shows up most clearly in daily usage patterns:

• Around 2,600 transactions are processed every second in Kenya

• In the financial year ending March 2025, M-Pesa moved about Sh38.3 trillion in transaction value

• It now contributes roughly 41.5% of Safaricom’s total revenue

What started as a money transfer service has effectively become a core layer of economic infrastructure.

The System Behind the System

The agent network

The part of M-Pesa most people interact with is digital, accessed through the phone. The part that keeps it running is physical.

Across Kenya, there are about 298,900 M-Pesa agents. These agents sit in kiosks, shops, markets, and rural trading centers. They allow users to deposit and withdraw cash instantly, bridging the gap between digital balances and physical currency.

This structure matters because it solves a problem many digital-only fintechs struggle with: cash is still deeply embedded in everyday African commerce. Without a physical conversion layer, adoption would likely have been far more limited outside urban centres.

Merchants and Everyday Commerce

M-Pesa also became embedded in business transactions much earlier than many other mobile money systems.

Today, around 633,000 businesses accept payments through Lipa Na M-Pesa. Alongside them are hundreds of thousands of micro-merchants using Pochi La Biashara, including motorcycle taxi operators, food vendors, and small kiosks.

For many of these businesses, M-Pesa functions as:

• A payment system

• A record of daily sales

• A substitute for formal bookkeeping

Over time, that transaction history has taken on a second life. Lenders and fintech companies increasingly rely on it as a proxy for income verification and credit assessment. In many cases, consistent M-Pesa activity is more useful than traditional bank statements, especially for informal businesses that never had access to them in the first place.

How M-Pesa Expanded Beyond Payments

Once payments became routine, Safaricom began layering additional financial services on top of the same infrastructure.

The pattern is consistent: instead of building separate systems, new products plug directly into the M-Pesa wallet and its transaction history.

Ziidi and Retail Investing

One of the clearest examples is Ziidi, a money market fund integrated into M-Pesa and developed with partners including the Nairobi Securities Exchange and Kestrel Capital.

It lowered the entry barrier for investing dramatically, allowing users to start with as little as KES 100.

The growth has been striking:

• About 130,000 users in September 2024

• Around 4.3 million users by March 2026

To put that in context, traditional collective investment schemes in Kenya serve roughly 300,000 people in total. Ziidi alone has surpassed that entire base.

Credit Built on Transaction History

Credit has followed a similar path.

Products such as Fuliza Biashara and the Taasi loans (Taasi Till and Taasi Pochi) are designed for small merchants who already use M-Pesa daily but lack formal credit histories.

Instead of relying on collateral or traditional credit scores, lending decisions are increasingly influenced by:

• Transaction frequency

• Cash flow consistency

• Wallet activity patterns

This shift has quietly changed what “creditworthiness” looks like for a large segment of small businesses.

Cross-border and Global Payments

More recently, M-Pesa has begun extending beyond domestic transactions.

A virtual Visa card linked directly to the wallet now allows users to pay for global services such as Netflix, Amazon, and Apple. This removes the need for a separate bank-issued international card and brings global payments closer to the same interface people already use for local commerce.

Why This Matters Beyond Kenya

The trajectory M-Pesa has followed is increasingly relevant across Africa.

According to GSMA, the continent now has over 500 million active mobile money accounts processing more than $830 billion annually. At the same time, fintech revenue across Africa is projected by Boston Consulting Group to grow from around $10 billion today to over $65 billion by 2030.

But the growth opportunity is shifting.

Payments are already widely adopted. The larger gaps remain in:

• Access to credit (with over half of African adults still underserved)

• SME financing (with an estimated $330 billion funding gap)

• Savings and investment access for low-income users

This is where the next phase of mobile money expansion is heading: financial products built directly on top of payment systems that already reach mass adoption.

The Prevalent Gap

Even with its success, M-Pesa highlights some of the structural limits of Africa’s financial systems. The biggest challenge is interoperability.

A user in Kenya cannot seamlessly send money to a mobile money user in Tanzania, even though both operate within the East African Community. Different operators, regulations, and settlement systems still create fragmentation.

Regional efforts like the Pan-African Payment and Settlement System (PAPSS) and broader integration under the African Continental Free Trade Area are attempting to reduce this friction.

In many ways, the constraint is no longer technological. It is regulatory and institutional.

In SummarY

M-Pesa’s evolution offers a clear pattern: a system designed for basic money transfers can gradually become the backbone of an entire financial ecosystem when three things align: distribution, trust, and repetition.

What began as a way to move money without a bank account now sits at the centre of payments, lending, savings, and even cross-border commerce in Kenya.

The most interesting part is not the scale itself, but how it was achieved. There was no sudden leap. It was built through agent networks in kiosks, small transaction fees, and low entry thresholds that made participation effortless.

For the rest of Africa’s fintech ecosystem, M-Pesa serves as both reference point and warning. The next wave of growth is unlikely to come from payments alone, but from what gets built on top of them once they become invisible.

 How to Start A Career in Tech in Kenya

East Africa, and Africa as a continent is undergoing a series of revolutions that leave much to be anticipated about in its future development. The technology scene in Kenya is one of these hot spots of activities and innovations. Tagged as the “Silicon Savannah”, Kenya has been recorded as one of the African countries home to some of the best cutting-edge technologies on the continent. 

This intense spring of ideas and innovations has led many to consider breaking into the tech industry and technology as a discipline. However, just like every other field of expertise, the tech industry is not one to venture into without counting the costs. This article helps you gain insight into what to do and what to avoid in your quest to break into the technology hub in Kenya.

1. Identify the numerous aspects of the tech industry and decide on where you will focus on.

Just like in the Sciences or Arts, there are numerous specialties in the tech space that require careful study and appraisal of each one to know what fits best for an individual. Specialties like Software Development, Data Analytics, Cyber security, and Artificial Intelligence have taken precedence in the past years in Kenya. But, specialties like Health Tech, UI/UX, Game Development and Design, and Product Management are areas yet to be mined to their fullest capacity. To fully understand what size fits you, you must carefully explore what interests you or what you do best. This way, you will be in a better state to pick out your specialty of interest without pressure.

2. Attend professional training tailored to your specialty of interest

The introduction of technology has made the world a global village and quality education on any subject matter can be accessed from any part of the world.

To build a successful tech career in Kenya, you should take care of making the mistake of being a generalist with no deep expertise in any aspect of technology. This can be carried out by registering for conferences, attending seminars, and taking courses relating to your field of interest.

Not only will doing this open you up to the recent trends and Kenyan government policies regarding the tech space, but it will also create an avenue to network and build working relationships with people who are from the same field.

3. Explore local opportunities first

Although the influx of foreign intervention in the technology scene in Kenya might serve as a source of temptation to look out for foreign opportunities only, it is beneficial to also step back and look into opportunities made available locally. One of the resources to access to help with this is the innovation iHub in Kenya which has helped to connect many Kenyan tech enthusiasts with appropriate opportunities. 

Getting actively engaged in the activities of communities such as these will help you understand the local tech market in Kenya and how to maneuver your way successfully. After successfully gaining a firm stand in the local tech scene, then you can begin to consider spreading your reach and attempt to break into the technology industry in any other country, either in Africa or overseas.

4. Have an excellent job search strategy

One of the major milestones anyone successful in the tech scene has recorded is having a well-crafted job search strategy. This will involve starting from the lowest hierarchy for most or learning on the go for others. Both of these strategies require an iota of deliberateness and intensity for a tech enthusiast in Kenya. This is because the efflux and influx of different technology companies into the country might seem tempting enough to enable one hop from one employment to another - which is a vital sign of instability. To gain a strong foothold in the tech industry in East Africa and Kenya, you must ensure to be single-minded, strategic, and firm on what you want and how you will get it. This attitude will help you create a beautiful curriculum vitae when you step out in search of a position.

In your quest for an opening in the technology industry, your job search strategy should also include having spontaneous answers, ideas, and innovations that will help improve the future of tech in Kenya and in Africa as a whole.

The tech space in Kenya is one where you get to build your grit, resilience, and attention for excellence. Having the big break will most likely not happen overnight, however, by staying through with the decision you make from the start, you can become one of the many wonders of technology Kenya has ever produced. Kenya is increasingly becoming an attractive source of technological innovations and its impact on the economic environment in East Africa should not be overlooked.

References

1. Resilient Digital Africa, 26 March 2024, https://resilient.digital-africa.co/en/blog/2024/03/26/kenya-emerges-as-africas-premier-technology-market/

2. iHub Africa, https://ihub.co.ke/

Damaged Undersea Cable Disrupts Internet Connectivity Across Africa: Houthi Involvement Suspected

In a significant development impacting digital communication across Africa, a damaged undersea cable has led to widespread loss of internet connectivity in various regions. The affected cable, belonging to SEACOM, a prominent provider of connectivity to businesses and companies in Africa, has resulted in disruptions that are particularly affecting Nigerian businesses.

The cause of the damage to the undersea cable remains under investigation, with multiple factors being considered. One potential cause suggested by Israeli media outlets is the involvement of Houthi forces, who have been targeting cargo ships in the region as part of their support for Hamas during the ongoing conflict in Gaza.

The Houthis, an armed political and religious group in Yemen, have recently been engaged in aggressive actions in the Red Sea, including the hijacking of a commercial ship and launching missile and drone attacks on other vessels. These activities have raised concerns about their potential involvement in damaging the undersea cables critical for internet connectivity.

Oliver Fortuin, the Group CEO of SEACOM and a former Group Enterprise officer at MTN, highlighted the extensive impact of the cable damage. He mentioned that not only SEACOM's cable but also cables operated by other telecom operators like TGN, Europe-one, and Europe India Gateway were affected.

The Europe India Gateway cable, in particular, connects several countries across Europe, Africa, and the Middle East, highlighting the broader ramifications of the connectivity disruption. Tata Communications, operator of the TGN cable, confirmed service disruptions due to cable damage near Yemen, affecting connectivity in various regions.

Repair efforts are underway, with SEACOM and its repair partner E-marine awaiting permits to commence repairs in the Red Sea. However, the geopolitical complexities of the situation,  are expected to delay the repair process significantly.

Countries primarily affected by the internet connectivity disruptions include those in East Asia, Egypt, and Kenya. The extent of the impact on these regions underscores the critical importance of undersea cables in maintaining global digital connectivity and the challenges posed by geopolitical tensions in safeguarding these vital communication channels.

Disclaimer: This news release is based on available information and ongoing investigations. Details may be subject to change as new information becomes available.

2024 TECH CONFERENCES TO LOOK OUT FOR IN EAST AFRICA

In this technological era, what better way to grow, network, and stay informed than attending tech conferences? Here in this write-up are some conferences in East Africa to organise in your yearly conference schedule. 

Connected Banking East Africa

Topping your finance A-game and confidently navigating this complex financial landscape, you should not miss the 11th Edition of the summit in conjunction with Innovation & Excellence Awards – East Africa holding in Nairobi, Kenya. This summit, focusing on crafting the Future of Banking with Inclusion & Digital Evolution is set to showcase notable experienced industry personnels interested in the finance industry's newest trends and technologies. Over 20 sessions anchored by about 35 speakers telling individualized success stories will provide practical insights and networking opportunities to share ideas and best practices on digital banking solutions.

Location: Radisson Blu Hotel, Nairobi Upper Hill, Nairobi, Kenya.

Date: 6th March, 2024.

MWC Kigali

Previous themes at MWC Kigali have focused on FinTech, HealthTech, and developing mobile technology in Africa. At this three-in-one event featuring MWC Kigali in collaboration with Africa HealthTech Summit and Smart Africa, the opportunity for one to engage with business leaders across the globe, numerous industry stakeholders, and Africa's top government officials for collaborative purpose in business ventures contributing to the transfomation of ICT in Africa is provided. 

Location: Kigali Convention Centre, Kigali, Rwanda.

Date: 29 - 31 October, 2024.

Microfinance Tech Summit (MTS 2024)

The 2024 Kigali MTS is the 2nd of its kind aiming in housing over 500 delegates from various digital works of life such as microfinance institutions, technology experts, policymakers, regulators, and other stakeholders to rub minds on digitization in microfinance for improved customer experience. The summit addresses integrating technology in microfinance, user data protection, partnerships, and investments in technology-led initiatives.

Location: Kigali Convention Centre, Kigali, Rwanda.

Date: 23 - 24 May 2024.

FinTech Festival Tanzania

This event for Financial Technology in East Africa offers a space for the FinTech community to interact and work on innovative ideas, from several conferences to exhibitions and awards. The event is significant in developing the ecosystem and improving partnerships between Tanzania and global FinTech.

Location: Julius Nyerere International Convention Center (JNICC), Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.

Date: 28 - 29 November 2024.

Africa ICS Cybersecurity Conference and Expo 2024

To prevent impediments in the economical growth of Africa, usually caused by data breaches and cybersecurity attacks, this event aims to address Africa’s Industrial Control Systems security. This Nairobi conference is intended to call attention to lectures on the trendiest areas in the Africa ICS sector, the benefits of SCADA security systems, challenges, and insights at the Africa ICS Business meeting, the Africa Women in Cyber Security Forum, and more. 

Location:  Kenyatta International Convention Centre (KICC), Nairobi City

Date: 11th - 13th June, 2024.

The ICT Expo 2024 Africa

With topics spanning IoT, Blockchain, Artificial Intelligence, Telecoms, E-commerce, and others, the expo plans to pitch the digital divide within Africa. The event proposes to communicate strategies and investments enabling the availability of Information Communication Technology (ICT) in rural and remote communities.

Location: Sarit Expo Centre, Nairobi, Kenya.

Date: April 25th - 26th, 2024

Attending any of these tech events across East Africa will provide a valuable experience in exchange for your time. At these conferences, you'll have the opportunity to connect with fellow professionals and industry leaders, stay up-to-date on the latest industry trends, and acquire new skills and knowledge.

VIEBEG: A HEALTH TECH FIRM'S PASSION FOR BETTER HEALTHCARE SYSTEM IN AFRICA

Healthcare is of utmost importance worldwide especially in low-income Africa where the challenge of quality, accessibility and affordability is still being faced but an harmonious well-functioning health system is dependent on trained and motivated health providers, well-maintained infrastructure, and reliable supply of medicines and technologies which is what the Viebeg Medical firm has tried and is still trying to ensure across various hospitals in Africa for close to 5  years now.

About Viebeg Technologies

Viebeg Technologies is an African health tech firm responsible for the provision of high-quality medical supplies and equipment in Africa through an innovative procurement platform. It incorporates the use of an artificial intelligence (AI) driven procurement system referred to as 'VieProcure' to de-risk and augment every aspect of the supply chain in hard-to-serve markets thus, allowing healthcare providers to purchase medical consumables and equipment automatically, transparently, and efficiently. 

VieProcure, the AI-powered Inventory Management and Procurement System for hospitals was built to ensure the consistent availability and accessibility of medical products, and to anticipate shocks of any kind ranging from climate events to civil unrest for the optimum timely delivery of live-saving health products in challenging environments. VieProcure also comprises a data-driven logistics platform which ensures health care facilities receive the accurate type and quantities of medical supplies in stock for the proper treatment of her patients. The AI-driven platform is capable of connecting healthcare providers directly with manufacturers rather than brokers and middlemen present in the supply chain thus, reducing cost by 40 percent for its consumers.

Founders of Viebeg Technologies

Viebeg Technologies was launched in 2018 by Tobias Reiter, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) who has had previous experience building AI-driven platforms, and Alex Musyoka, the Chief Commercial Officer who has sales and operations experience through senior roles at East Africa’s largest medical supply companies. The AI enthusiastic and entrepreneurial spirit exhibited by Alex and Tobias birthed the company in that they saw the immense potential of technology in solving the tragic problem of shortage of quality timely medical supply in Africa and its consequence of massive yearly casualties.

Viebeg Technologies mission 

Viebeg has established a commercial presence in some countries in East Africa such as Kenya, Burundi and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, thereby, serving above 500 consumers since its launch in 2018. Its ultimate goal is the expansion of the services to regions throughout Africa in general which was motivated by issues in Central and East Africa, where healthcare systems and providers struggle to purchase and retain vital medical equipment and supplies in stock. The health-tech company is currently serving more than 1,000 hospitals, clinics, pharmacies, and healthcare professionals in Rwanda, Kenya, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Viebeg's current state 

Viebeg has successfully secured funding from reputable venture capital firms such as Beyond Capital Ventures, Global Ventures, Angaza Capital, Founders Factory Africa, Norrsken, and others in the past, therefore, amounting to over $2.5 million. Most recent investment sometime last year from Johnson & Johnson Impact Ventures, an impact fund under the Johnson & Johnson Foundation, and Sanofi Global Health Unit Impact Fund is expected to propel Viebeg Medical to greater heights in its mission to enhance healthcare accessibility in the region of Central and East Africa. Johnson & Johnson Impact Ventures Investments Director, David Higgins, professed that their company is excited to support and grow the vital work of Viebeg via strengthening the ability of health systems to provide care to their consumers.

Conclusion 

Tobias Reiter and Alex Musyoka founded a company that incorporated Artificial Intelligence into their healthcare offerings, addressing a pressing issue in African communities. While it's easy to overlook the significance and impact of technology in various African industries, particularly healthcare, it's crucial to recognize the potential of innovation to overcome challenges and improve the lives of millions of people.

AIPI GRADUATES 3RD BATCH OF STUDENTS FROM ITS UPSKILLING PROGRAM.

Tech UpSkill, an initiative that focuses on building the next generation of global talents, enhancing gender equality, and providing job opportunities, just graduated its 3rd batch. This training program was brought by Access to International Partnerships in IT (AIPI) in partnership with an association consisting of 250 start-up firms, kLab, and FabLab. The program's major goal is to close the skill gap by providing training, experience, and mentorship across Rwanda for the youths that desire to refine their technical skills.

THE 3RD COHORT GRADUATION AND AWARDS CEREMONY

This recently graduated batch included 88 individuals who are either secondary or university students who got certificates following the training program, which lasted for 4 months in software and hardware development. They demonstrated practical skills by working on projects in both aspects. These projects were showcased at the award ceremony, and a panel of professionals was set up to examine the projects that stood out and deserved to be rewarded.

For the Hardware category, the top three winners included a Plastic Recycling 3D Printer - a machine that was produced to recycle waste plastics into filament, a Clean robot made for cleaning smooth surfaces with future plans to be enhanced so it can remove waste in water bodies, and a Charcoal Briquetting machine and briquettes production which produces cooking energy-saving briquettes from public waste.

Meanwhile, in the software category; Eco-learn built to offer front and backend web-based interfaces that educate those in Rwanda about the environment, SP Gaz, a platform to order for gas online, and Farmie that helps connect farmers to markets were the 3 projects that won respectively.

During the training, the students were provided with an area and tools for the course. They also had all the materials and needed resources made available to them to ensure they could grow and make an impact in the tech industry locally and internationally.

The CEO of the Rwanda ICT Chambers, Alex Ntale, presided over the graduation ceremony and stated that the chamber is working with the government to explore all avenues and partnerships to improve youth ICT skills in order to further the nation’s goal of becoming a tech hub.

TECH UPSKILL'S IMPACT ON THE COMMUNITY

Data from the training program showed that only 22% of the individuals who participated in the 3rd cohort were females. This depicts that women are underrepresented in the tech ecosystem. The program aims to solve this gender gap by equipping women with whatever is needed to grow a tech career. This is not only done to increase gender equality but also ensure Rwanda’s talent pool is maximized to its full potential.

This program played a part in providing solutions to unemployment by creating over 400 job opportunities. Tech UpSkill is passionate about contributing to the economy. An electronic and telecommunication student at IPRC Tumba, Nadine Manishimwe, and a developer from the Plastic Recycling 3D Printer group say that boldness to experiment with practical skills is necessary to support females in STEM and that the training helped her when it came to improving the skills she learned. It also assisted her in creating new business ideas that can be a source of income.

A former student of INES Ruhengeri (Industrial IT), in the briquetting group, Cyriacca Urwibutso stated that in order to increase the number of women in the Technology industry, there is a need to push young girls to trust in themselves and face any fear that prevents them from going into careers dominated by males.

The Tech UpSkill has had an impact on young tech developers, according to Dr. Geraldine Schmitz, the AIPI Project Director, and preparations are in place to seek additional financing to maintain the field of tech advancements.

ACCESS TO INTERNATIONAL PARTNERSHIPS IN IT (AIPI) AND RWANDA ICT CHAMBERS

Access to International Partnerships in IT (AIPI) is built on an alliance between the ICT Chambers in Rwanda and Bundesverband IT-Mittelstand e. V. (BITMi), an IT firm based in Germany. AIPI was founded to improve the ICT sector in Rwanda and Germany by implementing diverse initiatives that facilitate cooperation and growth in both countries' technology ecosystems.

Rwanda ICT Chambers is an organisation that is focused on assisting its members with the development of skills, advocacy, financing, and access to the market all in the Rwanda ICT sector. The firm plans to make Rwanda the top community influenced by information and community technology (ICT) and be at the forefront of this economic and cultural transformation.

CONCLUSION

The Tech UpSkill training has gotten praise from individuals with influence due to its frequent efforts to ensure opportunities and skills development courses, both technical and entrepreneurial, for the youths. The program has had success, which is displayed by positive impact, achievements, and reviews gotten from those who were beneficiaries of the program.